May 8 is National Report Government Contractor Fraud Day, founded by whistleblower advocate and former Department of Justice Attorney Joel D. Hesch

News provided by

The Hesch Firm LLC

May 03, 2018, 03:00 ET


LYNCHBURG, Va. (PRWEB) May 03, 2018 -- National Report Government Contractor Fraud Day is celebrated on May 8. The twin purposes of National Report Government Contractor Fraud Day is to bring awareness to the amount of fraud committed against the federal government (especially by government contractors) and to invite the public to obtain a significant whistleblower reward for reporting it.

Ten percent of all government spending is lost due to fraud.* Because the government spends $4 trillion a year,** as much as $400 billion may be lost annually to fraud. That’s why Congress authorized the Department of Justice (DOJ) to pay whistleblower rewards up to 30 percent of the amount it recovers based upon whistleblowers reporting fraud by any government contractor under any program, such as Medicare, DOD, the military, or Homeland Security.

Statistics for the DOJ whistleblower reward program***

  • The largest whistleblower reward is $150 million
  • The average whistleblower reward is $549,665
  • DOJ has recovered $40 billion in fraud cases brought by whistleblowers
  • DOJ has paid whistleblowers rewards of over $6.5 billion
  • Each year, DOJ pays approximately $400 million in whistleblower rewards

National Report Government Contractor Fraud Day started in 2018. It was formed by Joel Hesch, a whistleblower attorney who spent over 15 years working in Department of Justice whistleblower reward office. While at DOJ, Mr. Hesch helped obtained over $1.2 billion in recoveries back for the government from those cheating the government and paid out hundred of millions in rewards to whistleblowers. Mr. Hesch formed his own law firm and now exclusively represents whistleblowers nationwide in filing for rewards for reporting fraud against the government, including government contractor fraud.

Free e-books addressing Medicare or military fraud:

To help whistleblowers properly report fraud, Mr. Hesch wrote two free e-books, available at this release or at the official national day web page. The first free e-book addresses Medicare fraud, including the common Medicare fraud schemes and the ways to report Medicare fraud. The second free e-book addresses fraud against the military or homeland security. His free e-books also contain his personal contact information so that you can ask Mr. Hesch incomplete confidence to review your potential reward case. Mr. Hesch also has a website that explains what steps are necessary to be eligible for a whistleblower reward.

Celebrate National Report Government Contractor Fraud Day by downloading his free e-books so you understand the various fraud schemes and the Department of Justice (DOJ) whistleblower reward program.

You can also celebrate National Report Government Contractor Fraud Day by sharing this day and web page with everyone you know so that the whole world can participate in stamping out fraud. Only when fraud doers know that the public knows how to spot government contractor fraud and can get a reward for reporting it will they think twice about ripping off our government programs.

How to report Government Contractor Fraud?

There are two very different ways of reporting government contractor fraud, with two very different results.

1. File for a Reward under the DOJ Whistleblower Reward Program

The first way to report government contractor fraud is hiring a whistleblower attorney, such as Mr. Hesch, to blow the whistle under the Department of Justice (DOJ) reward program, which pays whistleblower rewards of between 15% to 30% of the amount DOJ recovers.

Under the DOJ program, the government must open an investigation and inform the whistleblower’s attorney of the results. Thus, applying for a reward through a whistleblower attorney is the only way to ensure an investigation takes place (rather than just calling an agency hotline). Today, over three-fourths of the government’s fraud cases are DOJ whistleblower reward cases. Thus, the government is counting on whistleblowers to bring fraud cases to DOJ and receive a reward in the process.

2. Report fraud to the agency

The second way to report government contractor fraud is to report it directly to the affected government agency. Every agency has websites allowing whistleblowers to report fraud, waste and abuse. Although most agencies do not offer any rewards for contacting them directly, they do have offices responsible for reviewing citizen complaints. You can do this without an attorney and even anonymously. Just conduct an internet search for the federal agency to obtain its contact page for reporting fraud.

There are a few downsides by reporting the fraud to the agency and not by filing for a reward with the Department of Justice. First, there is often is no reward. Second, the agency does not have to open an investigation. Third, the agency does not have to tell you the results of any investigation. Nevertheless, there are times when it makes sense to report fraud directly to the agency through its website or by calling its hotline.

Footnotes

**https://www.thebalance.com/how-trump-amended-obama-budget-4128986 (“The federal government will spend $4.037 trillion in FY 2017.”)

*** Department of Justice Statistics as of 2017, located at: http://www.howtoreportfraud.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/2017-FCA-statistics-overall-doj.pdf

Joel Hesch, The Hesch Firm LLC, http://www.ReportHealthCareFraudWeek.com, +1 5405836353, [email protected]